Trade Show Shines Delicious Spotlight on Brooklyn's Culinary Culture

The hunger for Brooklyn-branded products is creating a tasty business opportunity for food- and beverage-makers in the borough. NY1’s Roger Clark reports on the Brooklyn Eats' Trade Show.

You know the sauce is good when you can drink it out of a cup; it's made with the family recipe in the basement of Michael Cacace's Marine Park Restaurant.

"We cook and pack all of our sauces and we sell them all over the country," said Cacace of Michael’s of Brooklyn.

His restaurant is one of the nearly 100 food and beverage makers offering up their delicacies at the Brooklyn Eats Trade Show, which spotlights the best of the borough's culinary offerings and more.

"The Brooklyn brand is hot. We hear Brooklyn-something everywhere,” said Carlo Scissura, the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

“But to us unless you are actually making in Brooklyn, employing Brooklynites, building your future here, investing in the borough, you're not Brooklyn to us," Scissura said.

For the exhibitors, it's a chance to network and get exposure. The goal is to get their products into more stores and restaurants.

And with interest in all things Brooklyn expanding, the expo is attracting more and more buyers and distributors.

"This is a great place to branch out. It's really important," said Ben Yavel, the director of operations for Brooklyn Bangers, a restuarant on Atlantic Avenue.

"I'm hoping to meet some suppliers, some people who are distributors, some people who are looking to buy product on a bigger scale," said Michelle Tampakis, the owner of Whipped Pastry Boutique.

"Our main interest here is meeting new people, starting to wholesale to shops as well as eventually we are going to be doing supermarkets," said Andrea Chrem, the operations manager of La Newyorkina Mexican Ice and Sweets.

Events like this can be fun but they can also be very dangerous, because you get to try everything.

From mushroom meringue cookies from the Brooklyn Cookie Company, to something called a schmolive from Brooklyn Whatever, there’s plenty to feed your face.

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